Second Southern Derby in as many days sees Telugu Titans take on Tamil Thalaivas

Match 72 of vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 7 will pit Telugu Titans against Tamil Thalaivas at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday. A victory for Telugu Titans will see them leapfrog Tamil Thalaivas in the vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 7 standings.

Match 72: Telugu Titans vs. Tamil Thalaivas

Head-to-head: Telugu Titans 4-3 Tamil Thalaivas.

Telugu Titans

Played: 11

Won: 3

Tied: 2

Lost: 6

Win Rate: 27.27%

Best Raider: Siddharth Desai

Best Defender: Vishal Bhardwaj

Following a run of three straight wins, Telugu Titans succumbed to defeat against Puneri Paltan in their previous outing by a scoreline of 34-27. While the loss was disheartening, Telugu Titans' defence will be high on confidence after their performance, as they broke a vivo Pro Kabaddi record by scoring seven Super Tackles. Left Corner Vishal Bhardwaj has been in the form of his life and is currently the season's leading tackle point scorer with 42. Defender C. Arun came off the bench to provide two Super Tackles and could be an X-factor against Tamil Thalaivas as well. The raiding department, however, has left a lot to be desired. The Desai brothers – Siddharth and Suraj – combined for just eight raid points, a tally Puneri Paltan's Manjeet managed on his own. Since his incredible debut, Suraj has scored just 22 raid points in his last nine outings. Telugu Titans' defence has been incredible over the past few matches and, if their raiding unit finds form, they will be hard to contain.

Tamil Thalaivas

Played: 12

Won: 3

Tied: 2

Lost: 7

Win Rate: 25%

Best Raider: Rahul Chaudhari

Best Defender: Manjeet Chhillar

Defeat on Sunday meant Tamil Thalaivas have now gone six games without a win and, if they fail to curb this run soon, they will find themselves with a mountain to climb to earn a Playoffs spot. Veteran Manjeet Chhillar scored four tackle points against Bengaluru Bulls, but it took the all-rounder 10 tackle attempts to score those points. Corners Mohit Chhilar and Ran Singh, too, could only muster four combined tackle points in nine tackle attempts, bringing the trio's total to eight tackle points in 19 attempts. While Chaudhari had a better showing as compared to his previous efforts and finished with seven raid points, it took him sixteen raid attempts to get them and he was also tackled thrice. Skipper Ajay Thakur scored four raid points while also giving away four tackle points to the opposition defence. Coach E. Bhaskaran's men have shown that they are capable of scoring freely but the team has been unable to curb the leakage of points which has been the primary reason for their recent slump. Tamil Thalaivas need a win to get their season back on track and coach Bhaskaran will be hoping that his team can score a victory over Telugu Titans.